NEW ROCHELLE - Five law enforcement agencies arrested dozens of suspected drug dealers in two major drug sweeps Thursday in New Rochelle.

Operations "Birdcage" and "Fresh Start," which are separate, months-long investigations that targeted heroin, crack cocaine and powder cocaine dealers in the city, were executed throughout the day, New Rochelle police said.

"Operation Fresh Start" was a federal investigation that resulted in the arrests of 19 suspected drug dealers, said Joon Kim, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The 19 are accused of distributing more than 500 grams of powder cocaine and 28 grams of crack cocaine between September and December in New Rochelle, Kim said. They're facing a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison to maximum 40-year sentences.

“The speed with which this group of alleged drug dealers was investigated and arrested should serve as a warning to others who look to fill the void," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said in a statement. "These arrests will have a significant impact on the criminal underbelly in the Westchester County area, and we won't stop working each day to make these communities safer.”